September 27/09 18:55 pm - Forest City Velodrome Challenge

Posted by Editoress on 09/27/09

Saturday night was the first night of racing at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario.

The youth program at the FCV is beginning to pay dividends as several new riders were in the pits. Eric MacDonald, Patrick McGinley, Dave Campbell all of the riders were in the hunt for solid finishes all night.

The save of the night came during the “B” sprint semi final when McGinley stopped pedaling just after the finish…. The bike pitched sideways, and Patrick spent several seconds with one foot unclipped, riding at the rail at the top of the banking, he almost gained control and rode down the banking, he then came across the infield rode up the banking at a bad angle at the opposite side of the track, stopped and turned down the track without falling. When the spectators were asked how many thought Patrick was going to crash, everyone in the stands put their hands up. Patrick got a great round of applause for keeping the bike up right.

In race action, Vince DeJong outsprinted the field in a very competitive scratch race. Amy Biskaborn came around Krista Ruby in the “B” sprint final. Garnett Abbey attacked John Carden with 100m to go in the double knockout Miss and Out and won by 1⁄2 a bike length. In the “A” sprint final, new comer Mike Nuttal from London, played a tactical game to over come a slight disadvantage to just edge “the professor” Lorne Falkenstein to the line.

The last event of the night was a 5 team mixed Madison, the red team of John Carden and Kyle Rupay took the early lead and attacked the other teams with 13 minutes left in the race. Rupay and Carden were just starting to lap the field when Carden was involved in a crash with another team. Both riders went down heavily and the race was neutralized, this gave the other teams the opportunity to get back on even terms heading into the final 10 laps of the race, the Green team of Vince DeJong and Amy Biskaborn came across the line first to score the win. Jason King and Krista Ruby were second, with Garnett Abbey and Ryse Bateman finished in 3rd. A complete breakdown of the racing action is found at the FCV website in the results section.

The next race at the FCV is the Ontario Elite Track Championships on Saturday October 10th. The 5 event Omnium will begin at 1pm. The Sprint tournament will begin at 6pm. There will be racing for all categories. Anyone wishing to participate in a pursuit will have an opportunity.